Browsing Tag

Space Rock

Drench Yourself in the Tonal Bliss of Robbie Lackey’s Single ‘Atoms’

Posted on 19 October 2022

Taken from his first solo instrumental album, Surrender with a Smile, which is due for release on October 22nd, Robbie Lackey’s standout single, Atoms, outlays ambient melodies that absorb you through their intricacy and ability to transplant you into a far spacier realm.

Painting all across the tonal spectrum in vivid yet euphonous colour, the Columbia Falls, MT-hailing musician and producer leads you on a psychonautic road trip that you’ll want to embark on time and time again for the cathartic escapism. With the rising cost of fuel prices, it’s probably best to stay inside and take trips of the mind, led by one of the most tonally-gifted guitarists of our time. His 20 years of playing guitar clearly paid off in Atoms; if we still lauded guitarists as much as Prince and Hendrix, teenagers would have Lackey’s poster on their bedroom walls.

Check out Robbie Lackey’s latest single, Atoms, on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

SRVR unleashed a debut of spacey blues with their alt-rock release, Birdman

Posted on 14 September 2022

In response to America’s political decline, the South London producers and songwriters Sidney Rivers and Vincent Rogue merged their visionary creativity under the moniker SRVR and released their art-rock debut, Birdman.

Converging bluesy guitars and spacey textures in the soulfully gospel-esque production, there’s a subversive surrealism to the release, making it more than fitting for the 2022 airwaves. With Rob Wilks (Foals, Florence and the Machine, Lianne La Havas) at the mixing desk, Birdman spread its wings as a cathartically compelling sensory experience that everyone with an affinity for the Avant Garde will want to aurally revel in.

With their debut LP due for release in early 2023, save a space on your radars.

Birdman will officially release on September 14th. Stream it on SoundCloud or watch the official music video on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Tommy Trull – Citizen Freak: The Only Synth Rock Breakup Track You Will Need on Your Playlists

Posted on 25 August 2022
Nobody Else in the World by Tommy Trull

With guitars that wouldn’t be out of place in The Cure’s earlier records, rock n roll synthetics oozing from the synths and the funk-chopped basslines, Tommy Trull’s standout single, Citizen Freak, from his sophomore album, Nobody Else in the World, gorgeously drips with unapologetic autonomy.

The North Carolina-hailing multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter is known to hop between genres. With his second album, he paid a genre-fluid ode to the transformations we undergo when separations force our hands into parting ways with co-creators of our worlds that weren’t cut out for perpetuity.

Expression runs at the core of Citizen Freak; the experimental alchemy unfolds as refreshingly as Bowie’s did in his funk pop prime (that will sound hyperbolic until you delve in yourselves).

Citizen Freak is now available to stream and purchase on Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ember Rev has unveiled their grungy art-rock shanty, Dives & Lazarus

Posted on 11 July 2022

The synthy, innocent playfulness of Grandaddy meets the indie country twang of Modest Mouse in the latest spacey feat of experimentalism from Ember Rev, Dives & Lazarus.

After the synthesised shanty vibes, towards the outro, the Alt 90s Seattle sound seeps into the kaleidoscopic off-kilter production that also starts to pick up reminiscences to Queens of the Stone Age. Similarities to iconic sonic palettes aside Ember Rev is evidently a trailblazer in their own right.

With their new album, Isophilia, due to be released in July, it is well worth saving a spot for the self-proclaimed “nervous and neurotic accordion-driven” art-rock UK-hailing outfit. I knew there was a reason why the obscurity of Dives & Lazarus was so enamouring in its resonance.

Check out Ember Rev’s latest release by heading over to YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Brighton’s most cosmic collective, Tidal Rave, took us on an ‘Astral Escape’ with their neon pop-rock opera

Posted on 6 June 2022

Forget the phallic space race between Musk and Bezos, no one has gone deeper into the cosmos than the Brighton-based collective Tidal Rave in their latest single, Astral Escape (Adventure of a Lifetime), which stirs the soul in a quaintly imaginative style that we could more than get used to. I mean, existence has become synonymous with absurdity; you may as well live it through the oxytocin offered by an act that starts cuddle puddles at shows.

They call it whimsical insanity; we call it sticky-sweet ingenuity decorated in their enthusiasm to better the world through their space rock opera theatrics paired with kaleidoscopically colourful indie-pop hooks.

Astral Escape is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Embark on an aural space odyssey with Sunset Afire’s doomy cinematic track, Red Sails

Posted on 21 December 2021
Singularity by Sunset Afire

Doomy, groovy, cinematic tonal palettes feel more fitting than ever, and that’s just what the Brooklyn, New York-hailing post-hardcore outfit, Sunset Afire, delivered with their album, Singularity.

The standout single, Red Sails, is an atmospheric introduction to the nihilistically fuelled minds behind the vicious yet sublimely composed furore in the seminal album.

Rather than going full pedal to the metal, Sunset Afire knew exactly where to throw the fire into the single with the gorgeously layered male and female vocals and where to strip it back to build the tension. Red Sails doesn’t go full-on space odyssey rock opera; instead, it keeps grungy nuances at the heart of the progressively electrifying track that we can’t wait to hear more of. They’ve definitely made an ever-lasting impression with their elevated experimentalism.

Red Sails is now available to stream and download via Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Alien Al and the Juperoids welcome you to the future of dystopic pop with their standout single, Alice.

Posted on 21 September 2021

After a successful debut with their single, Probe, the electronic space rock outfit Alien Al and the Juperoids, fronted by actor and singer Alyx Nazir, have released their ground-breaking self-titled debut album.

The perfect introduction to their conceptual, expressionist style is the pop track, Alice, which starts with the same arresting atmosphere of existential sci-fi films that welcome you into cold dystopic futures. Through the eerie progressions, the single picks up some more archetypal pop tendencies along the way before a frenetic rock outro. In the strangest and most beautiful way, Alien Al and the Juperoids prove the value and warmth of music in our embittered world through Alice.

The debut album from Alien Al is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Mar Palafox lead the vanguard in his latest spacey hard rock single, Battle.

Posted on 14 July 2021

After a string of successful singles, the alt-rock solo artist Mar Palafox has released his debut self-titled album; expect an adrenalizing ensemble of power metal, prog rock and spacey hard rock.

Any fans of Dir En Grey, InMe and Porcupine Tree will be easily absorbed by the atmospheric textures in the soundscapes that coincide with frenetic solos as they blaze through the complex time signatures. Each single on the album is a feat of ingenuity, but none more so than the standout single, Battle. The slightly lo-fi feel to the single gives Battle a punky garage rock edge that is cutting, to say the least.

You can check out Mar’s debut album for yourselves by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Nightbird Casino has released their hotly-anticipated sweetly psychotropic earworm, ‘The Town’.

Posted on 23 April 2021

If you’ve found yourself wondering if you will ever hear an alternative track that holds any authenticity ever again, find yourselves pleasantly surprised with the sweetly psychotropic earworm, ‘The Town’, by art-rock Oakland-residing duo, Nightbird Casino.

With elements of artfully composed jazz, grunge, space rock, psych-pop and classical all melting in the alchemically intoxicating pot, you will practically feel the rabbit hole opening beneath you as you listen to the descending cadence of the jazzy improv instrumentals.

The existentialist air to The Town paired with the playfully avant-garde approach to production allows the track to become the ‘everything is burning down around me, and I’m totally fine’ meme, personified. And something tells me that if Bukowski was still around, he would have Nightbird Casino on his playlists; they share the same downtrodden but subversively charismatic appeal.

On this track, you’ll hear dual harmonic vocals from the founding members, James Moore and Don Shepherd. Instrumentally, you’ll hear session musician Nicolas Ocampo (clarinets, flute, saxophone, oboe, bassoon), James on bass and ondes martenot and Don on guitars, piano, organ, and drums.

With their sophomore album, ‘Rusian Carpet‘, due for release this summer, any fans of Radiohead, Sonic Youth or Mr Bungle will want Nightbird Casino on their radar.

The Town officially released on April 23rd; you can check it out for yourselves by heading over to Soundcloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Empire Of Lights ‘Hit The Highway’ out of South Wales and into the big leagues.

Posted on 9 April 2021

Small towns in Wales seem to regularly turn up superb melodic rock bands, and Empire of Lights – with their new single ‘Hit The Highway’ is no exception to that rule. Sparse, echoey guitar, pounding drums, and driving bass are the order of the day here; there’s a gothy vibe to the music, a feel of ‘The Forest’ or ‘Jumping Someone Else’s Train’-era Cure, mixed with Johnny Borrell Razorlight vocals from singer John Aziz.

It’s a vaguely psychedelic, spacey sound – there’s something special about the dynamics of three piece rock bands; think Hendrix, Cream, Husker Du and Sugar, and of course Nirvana. The interplay between instruments and vocals, the necessity of accepting and using space rather than simply turning everything up louder than everything else, allows for a different approach and that serves Empire Of Lights well here, adding to that slightly ephemeral, dreamy feel, and coming from such a young band – drummer Eifion Davies is still too young to drink in the bars that Empire Of Lights should be playing this year – shows a realy understanding of arrangement and songwriting. The future looks very bright for Empire Of Lights.

Hear ‘Hit The Highway’ on Spotify; follow Empire Of Lights on Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes